Chapter Sixty-Four: Stepping into the Sea of Blossoms

Just as the two were worrying about their future, another person sat up from the ground—it was Li Qingshui.

Although he had never lost consciousness, his entire body had been convulsing, including the muscles of his tongue, so he had been unable to move or speak. Now, as he sat up, he first rubbed his aching muscles and then looked at the two young men, who were still sighing deeply. “No need to be so pessimistic. The road ahead, after all, must still be walked.”

“You’re awake,” Liu Chang said, seeing Li Qingshui fully conscious. He walked over and pulled him up from the ground. “How do you feel? Any lasting effects?”

“It’s not too bad. The muscle spasms used up a lot of strength, but otherwise, I’m mostly fine,” Li Qingshui replied with a bitter smile. “It just hurt like hell, that’s all!”

“Yes, you must have felt it more than I did, since your mind was clear. You experienced it all, more sharply,” Liu Chang understood. He and the others on the ground had suffered, but because they’d lost part of their consciousness, much of the pain was dulled.

“How are these people doing?” Li Qingshui stood up and walked among the group lying on the ground, looking at the fat man and the little girl. “Are they okay?”

“They’re alright—their injuries aren’t the worst,” Liu Chang squatted and examined the little girl’s wounds. “Do we still have disinfectant in the backpack? No matter what, let’s disinfect them first.”

“Yes, I have some,” Li Qingshui said, retrieving iodine from his bag and applying it to the little girl and the fat man. Seeing this, Shen Mingyi hurriedly rummaged through the soldiers’ military backpacks for similar supplies and treated the wounds of the soldiers.

During the process, the three sorrowfully discovered that two more people had died—from excessive blood loss. The two had scratched themselves too hard, breaking the skin and damaging blood vessels and muscles. Worse yet, they had hit a major artery, so within just a few minutes, they had bled to death.

“Damn, two more gone. Only eleven of us left now,” Shen Mingyi said helplessly, shaking his head at Liu Chang.

Liu Chang sighed in response.

In the heavy silence of death, the three waited quietly for the others to wake. A few minutes later, the little girl and Doctor Huang stirred first, then the soldiers and the fat man—those who had survived the poison gradually regained consciousness and saw the sunlight of life. Yet, seeing their surroundings, everyone fell into a long silence.

The morale of the group reached its lowest point. At this moment, everyone had the same thought: “Can we even make it out?”

“Everyone, don’t be so down. We should be grateful we’re still alive!” Seeing their despair, Li Qingshui, for once, called out words of encouragement. “Pull yourselves together! Don’t sit here with your heads hanging. Do you want to wait here for death? Or do you think we should mourn our dead companions for half an hour, sort out our feelings for another half hour, and then fail to make it back to Zhengzhou before nightfall?”

“Stop acting like a bunch of weaklings—get up!”

Hearing Li Qingshui mention the time, the awakened soldiers lifted their eyelids. The bloody reality was right before them, but an even bloodier future was chasing from behind—if they didn’t reach Zhengzhou by nightfall, they would all die. Even if they set out now, time might not be enough; every wasted minute could mean losing their lives.

Given the situation, the soldiers dared not indulge in grief or despair, for everyone knew—it was not time for sentiment. One by one, though resigned, they stood up, picked up their weapons and backpacks, and readied themselves for survival.

“Doctor Huang, go and treat the worst wounds—stop the bleeding. We’ll set out immediately.”

“Alright,” Doctor Huang replied, not arguing this time. While Doctor Huang tended to the wounds, Li Qingshui shouted to the other side of the team, “Shen Mingyi, do we still have a compass?”

“No, the company commander took the only one. We thought we’d just follow the Zhengkai Avenue and wouldn’t need a compass, so we didn’t bring a spare… We…” As Shen Mingyi spoke, a realization struck him. He looked toward the direction of the flowerbed and shouted, “Oh no, when the company commander was poisoned, he took the compass into the flowerbed with him!”

At Shen Mingyi’s cry, everyone’s pupils contracted sharply.

“Damn it!” The fat man’s voice came from the group, full of anguish. “What now? In this place, more tropical than any rainforest, with no roads and no compass, we’ll never find our way out!”

“Don’t panic. Let’s keep calm and treat the wounds. I’ll go get the compass,” Li Qingshui said, tugging at Liu Chang. “Come with me.”

“What for?” Liu Chang glanced fearfully at the vibrant flowerbed. “You want to go there and get yourself killed?”

“It’s not necessarily suicide,” Li Qingshui replied, leading Liu Chang to the side of a dead soldier. He began stripping the dead soldier’s clothes. “The flowers are poisonous only because of their pollen. If we wrap ourselves up and cover our noses with wet cloth, we can avoid poisoning. As long as we don’t inhale too much pollen, there shouldn’t be mortal danger. But if we don’t find the compass, we’ll all die!”

Speaking, Li Qingshui put on the dead soldier’s oversized clothes. After donning two layers, he tore strips of fabric to wrap and seal the cuffs and pants. Liu Chang, after a moment’s thought, decisively donned another set of clothes. Finally, the two tore pieces from others’ garments, soaked them with sap from the tree trunks, and wrapped them around their noses and mouths.

A few minutes later, fully equipped, the two headed toward the deadly flower zone under the anxious, hopeful gazes of the others.

Following the path they’d taken before, they reached the edge of the vibrant flowerbed and stopped.

“You’ve got good eyesight—help me find the company commander’s body,” Li Qingshui said cautiously, staring at the red blooms beneath their feet. “He shouldn’t have gotten far. Take a look.”

“Alright.” Liu Chang nodded, circling the flowerbed where the incident had occurred. Soon, he spotted several soldiers’ bodies within the dense flowers.

The corpses were badly damaged—their skin and flesh torn, becoming fertilizer for the flowers. Their mutilated bodies made it hard for Liu Chang to identify which was the company commander.

But recalling the events and his familiarity with Zhao Yue, the company commander, he soon spotted a familiar figure among the broken bodies.

“That seems to be him,” Liu Chang pointed into the mist.

“That way?” Li Qingshui calibrated his direction by Liu Chang’s gesture—he could barely see three meters ahead, so he had to rely on direction.

“Yes.”

“Alright, stay here. I’ll fetch the compass.”

“You’re going?” Liu Chang asked, worried. “These flowers may have more than one way to attack. Aren’t you afraid of danger?”

“Of course I’m afraid,” Li Qingshui said, patting Liu Chang’s shoulder. “But I can’t always let you take all the risks.”

With those words, Li Qingshui turned away and stepped into the dazzling flowerbed.